Three-fifths of the world’s poorest people are women and girls and two thirds of adults who are illiterate are women (UNESCO, 2011).

The gender equality issue in education has been a major concern in many countries for a number of reasons.  Despite commitments to international goals related to gender, the UNESCO Global Monitoring Report (GMR) confirms that girls continue to represent the majority of out of school children (UNESCO, 2011).

It is with such disparity in mind that IIEP is organizing a Policy Forum that will focus on ways of promoting gender equality in education at (1) the school and classroom levels and (2) the institutional level.

• At school and classroom levels: this will include analysis of gender differences in student achievement. The forum will consider possible explanations of gender inequality in learning achievement and discuss strategies related to classroom practice, pedagogy, school environment, and family support that improve both boys’ and girls’ learning achievement.
• At institutional level: this will include analysis of gender equality in leadership. We will discuss the enabling factors and obstacles facing women in a number of countries that affect their ability to achieve senior leadership positions in the public sector and more specifically in the education sector.